Pokemon Resonated With a Generation Because It Looked Like The World Outside
by Christian Thrailkill
It’s hard to imagine anything as ubiquitous in the world as The Avengers, but Pokemon certainly is. Of all the pop culture phenomenons of the past 25 years, nothing has managed to capture the imagination of the public quite like Pokemon. Pokemon is the most profitable IP in the world, bar none. It’s worth more than Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel, DC, Lego, Disney Princesses, and Pixar.
23 years after Pokemon Red and Green dropped in Japan, we’re finally getting the first live-action Pokemon film in Detective Pikachu. Upon announcement, public reaction was mixed. Following the release of several trailers, however, people have seemed to come around, and this movie is looking to be one of the first breakout hits of the summer. It’s only three summers since Pokemon Go came out and reswept the world in Pokemania, and even that doesn’t compare to the height of Pokemania in the 90’s, when Pokemon alone made up a sizable chunk of the Japanese economy. But why does Pokemon hold such sway?
Pokemon’s greatest strength has always been it’s spectacularly immersive world. From the very first game, children could easily imagine themselves in the world of Pokemon. The concept of striking out on your own, exploring forests and cities, and trying to become a Pokemon Master is a deceptively immersive premise. With over 800 seperate pokemon to choose from, everyone has a Pokemon they like, from Pikachu to Stunfisk. And the concept of “Pokemon Master” is nebulous enough that it can mean anything you want it to. It could mean beating all the gyms and becoming a Champion. It could mean catching all the Pokemon and completing the Pokedex. It could mean finding a few Pokemon and becoming an absolute expert on that particular species. It’s more about striving for excellence in your particular field of interest more than anything, which means that hyper competitive players and non-competitive players alike can play in their own unique ways.
The secret behind the premise is that for all the fantastical creatures and mystical forces in Pokemon, it’s a surprisingly grounded fantasy world. At its’ most core elements, Pokemon is about exploring the outdoors with your pets and friends. It’s the same template as Calvin and Hobbes and Lassie. Outside of the Pokemon themselves, the Pokemon world is surprisingly similar to our own, with countries based on France, Britain, Hawaii, Japan, and The USA. The inhabitants of these regions have normal families, communities, and careers, including writers, businessmen, scientists, and pre-school teachers. Pokemon Trainers are, for all intents and purposes, the equivalent of amateur and professional athletes. This means there’s an element when it comes to raising Pokemon that makes it a hobby for some, and profession for others. There are even Pokemon that are solely domestic pets in the world. That means even from an early age, people can imagine themselves in the world of Pokemon very easily.
An additional layer to the immersion in Pokemon is the inherently social components of the franchise. Not only were you encouraged to go explore the world of Pokemon to find creatures, you were encouraged through the link system and version exclusivity of certain Pokemon to go through your playground, or neighborhood, or local park to meet people, make friends, and trade Pokemon. The amount of friendships born and broken by Pokemon is nigh incalculable. Even in the days of wifi gaming, Pokemon has one of the most robust and social gaming communities in the world. Between the trading cards, VGC, and anime/fanfic community, almost every local comic and game shop has a Pokemon club. This means that a fan can immerse themselves in the world of Pokemon both in the real world and the world of the game. The most prominent example of this is how the world collectively got swept into Pokemon together the summer of 2016 with the release of Pokemon Go. Remember the time a Vaporeon showed up in Central Park and caused traffic to stop in a standstill due to the pedestrian rush to capture the pokemon before it disappeared? Pokemon has always stressed active participation, and in doing so makes sure the target of Pokemon remains engaged with the franchise.
The third leg of the worldbuilding stool Pokemon’s absolutely stellar character design. Pokemon has always had stylish human characters, who look like they actually took a look in the mirror and decided on their appearance. The characters’ clothes and grooming reflect their personality. In other words, like Star Wars, the characters of Pokemon games look and feel like they actually live in the world they inhabit. And that doesn’t touch on the Pokemon themselves, who take inspiration from hundreds of real species and myths, such as an Axolotl or the common pidgeon. Pokemon as fantastic as Groudon and Sigilyph have inspiration from real world cultural myths and touchstones, the Behemoth of the Old Testament and the Nazca Line Drawings of Peru respectively in their cases. The benefit of drawing from species and myths from every continent and culture of the world is that players across the globe will recognize at least some Pokemon as something similar to what they know from their own environment and upbringing, enhancing the realism.
Additionally, the realism of Pokemon is achieved by choices as simple as an even distribution of prominent male and female characters. This may seem trivial, but Pokemon as a franchise was surprisingly pioneering in the video game world regarding female representation. Pokemon first gave you the option to play as a girl in 2001’s Pokemon Crystal, which was extraordinarily close to the start of the franchise, as Crystal was a direct sequel to the original Pokemon games. Three of the seven final bosses have been women, About half of the Elite Four and gym leaders are women. About half of the games’ rivals are women. This is an extension of Pokemon’s deliberate focus on catering to boys and girls of all demographics equally. Pokemon has the biggest percentage of female gamers as part of the fanbase of any major RPG franchise, and that’s no accident. Pokemon are equally cute and tough, so there are Pokemon to appeal to anyone, regardless of preference in pet. Even more importantly, the way the games are designed, even Pokemon that don’t look traditionally like fighters can be quite powerful, with many being in the top tiers of competitive play. This again reinforces Pokemon as a world not too different from our own.
All the best franchises make us want to live in their world. We’ve all pretended to be a superhero, Jedi, or Hogwarts student at some point in our lives. In the end, Pokemon is a franchise that achieves the effect more broadly than all of those, and in doing so speaks to the child in all of us. I know going into the movie this weekend, I’ll be seeing a world that existed in my imagination truly realized for the first time. Don’t be surprised if we have the next great blockbuster franchise on our hands.
Christian is a musician and writer. He Lives in Dallas, Texas
